Harry's Reductor slammed into the wooden door, blasting it inwards and pelting them with pieces of wood and splinters. They didn't waste any time after that, Hermione sticking close to Harry as they entered through the ruined remains of the door, their wands held at the ready, eyes scanning the space they were entering. Following right behind them was the rest of their team, the dozen masked muggles painting the inside of the house with laser dots, their rifles scanning for targets.

They moved quickly and effectively through the house's anteroom, before entering what appeared to be a living room, at least judging from the sofa and the TV it was facing. It was at that point that Harry, who was leading their charge, motioned over his shoulder with his free hand, and half of the group moved towards the corner to their right, while the remaining muggles covered their flank.

Hermione noticed a flash of movement just as Harry rounded the corner, and she immediately fired a stunner that way. The darkly dressed muggle cosplaying a Death Eater was grazed in the shoulder by her stunner, the partial hit enough to stun him but not to knock him out. Just as trained, Harry didn't swivel around to deal with the threat, keeping his wand pointed down the hallway as their muggle friends unloaded several paintballs into the 'Death Eater', who dropped to the floor 'dead'.

Hermione swore at herself for missing what was admittedly a rather easy shot to make, but the wand she had received from the muggle government very much did not like her. Then again, considering that the muggles only had two working wands in their entire inventory, she had to be thankful they even gave her one in the first place, even if the blasted thing didn't work half the time.

She snapped herself from her thoughts as several paintballs impacted Harry's shield up ahead, two attackers firing at them from further up the hallway. Harry simply kept advancing with his shield up, while she signalled to the men behind her that she had the attacker on the left. Next, she placed her hand on Harry's shoulder, tapping it once, then once more, and firing her stunner just as she tapped him for the third time.

He dropped his shield just as she fired, her stunner hitting the masked man in his chest and instantly knocking him unconscious, while the rifles behind them riddled the second attacker, who collapsed in very real pain. The paintballs might have been non-lethal, but boy did they hurt, Hermione thought looking sympathetically at their fallen 'enemy'.

Having cleared that part of the house, their team quickly made their way back to the living room, collecting their rearguard and moving to clear the other side of the house. The bathroom and kitchen turned out to be clear, but they were met by a hail of fire as soon as Harry poked his head into the guest bedroom, his shield being turned into a colourful canvas by the paintballs fired at them.

Pushing into this room turned out to be a bit more complicated, however, as the door seemed to be its only access point, and the enemies held both corners, preventing Harry from covering everything with his shield as he entered. Hermione quickly cast a Noise blocker on the doorframe, before tapping Harry once on his right shoulder.

"Two on the right, one left, and one directly in the front behind the bed." Harry said succinctly, not breaking his gaze from the room in question, while Hermione nodded towards Captain Orwell. The captain tilted his head to show he understood, before replacing her directly behind Harry's back.

The captain next reached into his vest and produced a smooth, round object, pulling out the pin from the object's top, before tapping Harry's shoulder twice in quick succession. Harry's wand lowered a fraction, creating a small gap between his shield and the top of the doorframe. A split second later a 'grenade' sailed through that gap, flying into the left-most corner of the room.

There was a curse from inside, followed immediately thereafter by a subdued 'pop' from the mock grenade, and the sound of two bodies hitting the ground. The captain next pulled out a cylindrical object, pulling its pin as well before repeating the motion he did before. The only difference as the flashbang sailed into the room was that Hermione didn't stay still, instead casting a modified darkness spell onto Harry's shield.

The flash and bang were still powerful despite her silencing and darkening spells, but she dispelled both as soon as the latter rang out, Harry pushing inside with her and Orwell close behind. The two remaining opponents were both clearly stunned, one holding his ears while the other fired his rifle wildly into the air. A single stunner and a few paintballs dispatched both, at which a loud horn sounded from somewhere outside, signifying the end of the simulation.

"Well done, boys." She heard Harry say back to the rest of their team, fist bumping that goof Newman before turning back to her. "And you were just as great as ever, Hermione." She could tell Harry's words were genuine, but she didn't feel like she'd done such a splendid job, her thrice damned wand still bothering her greatly… What she wouldn't give to have her old one back…

"God damn, that sucked so hard." She heard one of the 'Death Eaters' say as they moved to leave the house, their poor 'opponents' having all been either flash banged, stunned, shot by paintballs, or all of the above.

"I missed that first spell." She replied to Harry's praise with a critique of her performance, knowing he was way too forgiving of her failures. Such a mistake in a real battle could mean one of them dying, and Hermione coul- would not allow that to happen.

"It happens, but the crucial part is that we've once again completed the mission with no losses." Harry as usual completely disregarded her own critique, his regard for her way too high in her opinion. "Surely Clearwater can't keep us waiting around for much longer. We're ready." Harry continued determinately, and while she wasn't entirely sure she was ready herself, the team as a whole certainly was.

But that wasn't a surprise after two months of gruelling practice, where the two of them as well as the best of the best muggles from the SAS were put through a multitude of challenges. For the muggles it was initially rather difficult to adapt to fighting magic instead of lead, while she and Harry struggled to match their fitness and toughness.

And while the two of them had certainly improved their physical fitness significantly in the past two months, they were still nowhere near the level the muggles were at. But the crucial thing was that they were both fit enough to fight, and fight they would.

"Well done, boys!" Speak of the devil, there was General Clearwater, standing just outside the house they had just cleared, a pleased expression on his face that only grew as he spotted her and Harry, "And lady, of course." He added playfully, nodding for them to walk with him.

"General." She and Harry greeted the man, and the three of them slowly started to make their way back towards the main part of the base that had been their home for the past two months.

"I must admit, your results are impressive." The general said as they distanced themselves from the hubbub surrounding the practice area.

"Does that mean we're ready?" Harry queried almost instantly, his dogged determination to start fighting as soon as possible rubbing her the wrong way. She knew why he wished to do so of course, and she couldn't lie and say she didn't want to thin the Death Eater ranks as well, but she also knew Harry's motive went a lot deeper than that.

Her research on how to get the Horcrux out of his head was going nowhere, and it was evident that Harry had already resigned himself to his fate. It was why he always insisted on leading their training scenarios, and why he constantly made rash decisions… But Hermione had no intention of letting him succeed in what he was trying to do, which was why her defective wand bothered her even more than it usually would. She needed to be at the top of her game to protect Harry, and at the moment she simply wasn't.

"I have spoken with the rest of the council this morning." Clearwater replied to Harry's question, his eyes tracking a fighter jet taking off in the distance, "And I have received green lights from both the Prime Minister and Her Majesty the Queen. The 77th Anti-Magic battalion is ready to fight." Clearwater said seriously, both her as well as Harry stopping as his words registered.

"Really? That's great news!" Harry reacted enthusiastically, while Hermione still felt insulted by the battalion's given name.

"I agree." Clearwater spoke looking very pleased, and with reason. With the aid of her and Harry's information and help, the 77th battalion of the Royal Army was now the premier muggle fighting force against a wizarding opponent in the world. They had evidently still not seen any real action against their intended opponent, but Hermione felt very confident that Voldemort was soon going to regret making an enemy of the muggle world.

"Have you decided on the first target yet?" Hermione questioned after a moment, curious as to what the muggle leadership had decided on.

"Indeed, we have." Clearwater nodded. "We have reviewed the locations you've provided, and have decided to start with the one in Wiltshire, owned by the… Malfolds, was it?"

"Malfoys, sir." Hermione corrected, feeling strangely empty at the promise of paying a visit to Draco and his Death Eater family. His parents she didn't much care about, but despite being a bully and a blood supremacist, Draco was still only a child, not unlike her and Harry. He was not at fault for all the crap his parents had fed him. She supposed it was fortunate then that the school year was still ongoing, which meant Draco would not be home.

"Right, right." Clearwater nodded thoughtfully, before looking back at them, "We're planning to execute the attack in exactly a week, on the first of May. I'll be leading the attack myself, but I will be heavily depending on your help. I know guns and tanks, but magic is not exactly my forte." The general said with a wry smile, but his words gave Hermione pause.

"Harry?" She said looking at the floor whilst chewing on her bottom lip, her mind working at a million miles a minute.

"Hm?"

"I know the Order has been trying to capture us, but what if we tried recruiting some specific people to our side?" She asked, finally looking up at him and his surprised but not exactly angry expression.

"Who did you have in mind? Most of them are very loyal to Dumbledore, as you know." He replied carefully, the general just observing their interaction in silence. She nodded at that, knowing his words held merit with some of the Order's members, but she wasn't entirely certain that was true for all of them.

"Malfoy Manor is surely protected by some of the strongest wards in Britain. We certainly can't dispel them, and by the time the muggle heavy ordinance blows through them the Death Eaters will be alerted to our presence." She outlined the problem she saw coming, knowing by the look Harry gave her that he had guessed where she was going with this.

"You want to try and get Bill on our side?" She could see Harry wasn't entirely sold on the idea, so she pressed on.

"He's a curse breaker, not to mention a skilled wizard. Additionally, he wasn't one of the wizards chasing after us, and he's a Weasley. If there is anybody who will take your side over Dumbledore's, then the Weasleys are our best bet." She explained her line of thinking, holding her breath as she waited for Harry to respond.

"I suppose you're right." She exhaled loudly at his words, "If anybody is going to help us, then it will be them." She gave him a thankful smile, very much glad he'd agreed with her. And it wasn't even that she thought they particularly needed any help in this attack, but having another loyal and trusted wand beside her would make her job of protecting Harry much easier.

There was also a slightly more ulterior reason for her wanting Bill with them, her gaze instinctively going to Harry's scar at that. As a curse breaker, Bill had surely seen and dealt with hundreds of unique curses in his career. With her own research not giving her any indication on how to destroy the Horcrux without killing her best friend, she was desperate for somebody to talk to, for somebody to share her meagre findings with.

"Are you okay with us trying to recruit some additional wizards to the team?" She snapped herself out of her thoughts at Harry's question, and it took her a moment to comprehend he had posed it to the general.

"Fine with me." Clearwater shrugged, "I have been ordered by Her Majesty the Queen herself to let you two handle the magic side of this team, and that is what I intend to do. If you think this Bill is needed for the mission, you can bring him in. Just make sure he doesn't blab about what we're doing to anybody, clear?"

"Crystal." Harry responded immediately, receiving a firm nod in return from Clearwater.

"Need any help with recruiting him?"

"No, I think we'll manage it on our own." It was Hermione who answered this time, confident that they would be fine on their own. The general excused himself after that, leaving them to continue their trek towards their room alone.

"When were you thinking of doing this?" Harry asked her after a minute or so of walking in silence, her arm tucked into the crook of his elbow.

"The sooner the better, no? We only have a week to get him up to speed if her agrees."

"Tomorrow, then?"

"Sure. We should probably plan things out today, and then we can pay him a visit tomorrow." She agreed with his suggestion, already thinking about what they had to do before paying Bill a visit.

"Do you think we should visit him at the Burrow, or at his workplace in Gringotts?" Harry posed yet another very good question, and she would never dare to admit she had entirely forgotten about that problem. She was so used to the warmth and hospitality the Burrow usually provided, that she completely forgot that might no longer be the case. Then again, she stood by what she'd said earlier. The Weasleys wouldn't betray them.

"I think we should probably disguise ourselves a bit and just visit the Burrow. I can't imagine any of them sicking Dumbledore or the Ministry on us." She felt very certain of that, and despite not particularly trusting anybody bar Harry for a while now, she felt sure that the Weasleys would help them.

"I agree. Tomorrow, then." Harry replied with a small, almost nervous-looking nod. They didn't speak again all the way until they reached their small room, entering and locking the door behind them. They were greeted by Hedwig, the snow owl hooting excitedly to see them from her usual place near the window. Harry's owl had shown up a few days after their arrival here and seemed to be enjoying the forests surrounding the military base.

"Do you think they'll be mad at me?" She was brought from thinking about Hedwig by Harry's sudden question, which was posed in such a low whisper that she barely heard it, his head bowed and hands twisting themselves nervously around each other.

"Mad? Why would they be mad?" She asked feeling baffled, not understanding what made him think that.

"For not going along with Dumbledore's plan." Her heart broke at the sadness and guilt in his tone, and she immediately crossed the distance between them and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry." She whispered to him as she squeezed him closer, "I can assure you they aren't mad. In fact, they are probably worried about you, about both of us." She could tell her words were getting to him, his body relaxing somewhat in her hold.

"But what if they are?" He sounded like he had convinced himself that that was the only possible outcome, and not for the first time Hermione had half a mind to go pay a few people a visit. Starting with his wretched family, and ending with Dumbledore. It was incredible how badly the adults in his life had failed him, making him believe he was going to be yelled at and hated for not sacrificing his life for the greater good.

"They won't. And if they do, then Merlin help them all, because I won't take that well. But I'm sure they'll be happy to see you, Harry." She heard him chuckle at her implied threat, but despite using a lighter tone when saying the first part, she fully meant what she said. If anybody somehow attempted to blame Harry for all this, she would make them regret it, consequences be damned. Harry was quiet for a good minute after that, while Hermione was simply content to bask in the warmth of his embrace.

"Do you think Remus is really trying to help me? Help us?" Hermione was still holding him when he at last spoke again, his voice still so low she wouldn't have heard him if he wasn't in her embrace. The question that he posed wasn't an easy one to answer either, and Hermione had to think about what to reply with.

"I… do." She said carefully, elaborating at Harry's whispered 'you do?', "Yes. I think he really does want to help us, although I can't be completely certain. I didn't believe his intentions at first, but he did remove the trace from you, Harry. I can't see him doing that unless he was on our side." Her voice became more and more sure as she went along, all the facts pointing to the fact that Remus and the rest of his team were on their side not the Ministry's or Dumbledore's.

"Should we try recruiting him too, then?"

"No, not yet. We should probably first speak with Bill and the rest of the Weasleys, and then we'll make further plans depending on what they tell us." It had been more than five months now since the two of them had gone on the run, and they had no idea of what had been happening in the wizarding world in the meantime. For all they knew, Voldemort could have been ruling by now.

"Yeah, that's probably smart…" Harry nodded into her shoulder, yawning deeply a moment later. She could relate, the day behind them having been spent mostly training, and she felt tired as well.

"Come on, let's go to bed." She suggested, letting him out of her embrace and motioning with her head towards the bed.

"But it's not even dark yet, and we still have so much to plan for tomorrow." Harry argued with a look out the sole window, the afternoon sun indeed still shining in through it.

"We're both exhausted. We can plan tomorrow morning."

"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" Harry asked with a subdued chuckle, and she rolled her eyes at him playfully.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She used a mock-offended tone, causing Harry to cross his arms and lift an eyebrow her way.

"You planned for three days in advance back when we only went to rob a Tesco. Overplanning is like your signature ability." She could tell he didn't mean what he was saying in a bad way, and if she was honest with herself, she usually did go a bit overboard with such things.

"Should have planned for longer then, seeing what happened at that Tesco." Her comment immediately ruined the good mood, and she shivered as the memories of that day returned. Harry, pale as the snow around him, his blood staining her clothes and turning the snow red…

"You okay, Hermione?" She was torn from her memory by Harry's calming hand on her shoulder, prompting her to give him a shaky nod.

"Fine. Come on, let's get some rest."

ooOOoo

"Are you certain this is a good idea, Albus? I'm sure some of the other Order members would join us if you asked for their help." Albus couldn't help but smile at his old friend's worried tone, prompting the woman in question to purse her lips in a way that told him she was somewhere between annoyed and angry with him.

"I do not think involving anybody else is necessary, Minerva." He said looking at her, before adding innocently, "But you can certainly stay here at Hogwarts if you're that worried." He felt pleased as he saw Minerva's eyes narrow at him even further, her lips now pulled into such a thin line he couldn't even see them.

"Don't be ridiculous Albus, somebody has got to make sure you don't do anything stupid." She smiled sweetly at him as she said it, before nodding towards his recently regrown arm, "Does the arm still bother you, by the way?"

"Ha-ha, very funny. Shall we?" He rolled his eyes at her joke, motioning towards the doors of his office.

"Indeed." The two proceeded to walk through the deserted late-evening castle corridors in silence, which was only broken as they exited through the large main doors, the crisp spring air hitting them as they did so.

"I still think we should have at least taken Bill with us." Minerva commented as they made their way towards the edge of Hogwarts' ward lines, the castle growing ever smaller behind them.

"Do you doubt my curse-breaking skills?"

"No, but your way of dealing with wards and curses is to just throw massive amounts of magic at them. As a trained curse breaker, Bill is a bit more refined, something we could use when dealing with the Dark Lord's potential traps." Minerva's words did hold a lot of truth in them, but Albus had no intention of involving anybody else in this mission of theirs.

He had initially not even wanted to take Minerva, afraid of putting one of the last people he fully trusted into danger. But however much he dreaded anybody else getting hurt or worse because of his actions, he wasn't so far gone to head searching for one of Tom's soul pieces alone. Not after what had happened with the ring anyway.

"I'm sure we'll be just fine." He responded to Minerva's words just as they passed through the ward line. They stopped a few seconds later, both producing their wands. They shared a telling look, Albus lifting an inquiring eyebrow and receiving a slight nod in return from Minerva, who then wrapped her arm around his elbow.

A moment later they disappeared from view with a silent 'pop', reappearing on a stony rock in the middle of the raging sea. Albus took a quick look around, having to squint to see through the near-complete darkness, only the full moon providing some meagre light for their struggling eyes.

"He sure picked a nice place, didn't he?" The sarcasm was thick in Minerva's voice as she had to almost shout to be heard over the wind and the sound of waves hitting the rock they were standing on. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Albus spotted the entrance to the cave they were searching for, and he tightened his hold on Minerva's arm, apparating the two to the entrance of the said cave.

They landed in knee-deep water as they reappeared, and he heard Minerva's yelp of surprise from beside him. They quickly rushed out of the freezing water and into the cave proper, Minerva casting a drying charm on the wet cloth below their knees.

"Could have apparated us like 10 feet further in." She grumbled as a shiver overtook her, the thin cloak she was wearing doing little to protect against the harsh winds blowing inland from the sea.

"I could not." Albus replied simply, tracing his wand through the air at the point where he felt the cave's powerful wards beginning. Minerva, to her credit, caught on almost immediately, nodding sharply before the two lit up their wands and continued further on into the cave.

The first obstacle they reached was a simple stone wall, which only needed a few drops of his blood to open, admitting them into a massive cavern. As they walked further in however, Albus felt his eyes narrowing at the small island in the middle of the otherwise water-filled cavern. It was a bit tough to make out at the distance, but the centre island seemed to be completely and utterly filled with charred bodies.

Albus heard Minerva's shocked exhale as she, too, spotted the grisly sight, but the real surprise revealed itself once he waved his wand to try and detect any recent magic that had been cast in the cavern.

"Impossible…" He muttered feeling completely gobsmacked, double, no triple checking that his magic wasn't deceiving him.

"W-what? What is it, Albus?" There was a hint of shakiness in Minerva's voice as she looked for answers on his shocked face, but he could only shake his head in reply.

"But how did they…" He mumbled, before finally turning to face his companion, "I have detected traces of magic being cast in here fairly recently." He answered her question, her curiosity only growing at that.

"By who?"

"Hermione Granger, if I'm not mistaken." He could see Minerva recoil at his statement, her eyes wide and mouth moving without making a sound.

"Herm- But- That's impossible." Albus shook his head side to side at her spluttered retorts, his eyes already searching for a way they could reach the centre island.

"I have long ago accepted that Mister Potter and his two friends were very capable of doing the impossible on a regular basis." He told the still stunned-looking woman, using his wand to trace complicated patterns in the air until he found a boat they could use to cross the water.

"Do you think they got the Horcrux, then?" He thought about Minerva's question as the two climbed into the small boat, beginning the slow trip to the island.

"I sure hope so…" He said in reply, his eyes instinctively going to the mass of bodies littering the island, sincerely hoping he wasn't about to find his two favourite students dead underneath the several hundred Inferi. He was somewhat comforted by the fact that the traces of magic from Miss Granger didn't seem like they were completely fresh, and Albus knew the two had been seen alive just a couple of months ago.

When their boat had, at last, reached the dead-body-littered island, the two old wizards carefully disembarked, having to place their feet carefully to avoid stepping on bones and dust from the many Inferi remains scattered around. Albus didn't much care for anything but the small pedestal in the middle of the island, making a B-line towards it, Minerva hot on his heels.

He dragged his wand through the air in complex motions upon reaching it, and he quickly determined that the Horcrux was indeed no longer there. Somehow, his two students, one of which couldn't even use magic yet, had managed to beat him here and had managed to acquire one of Voldemort's soul pieces. To say that he was impressed would have been an understatement of the century.

If they had managed to destroy this Horcrux as well, it would mean Voldemort was down to just three. The first was almost assuredly in his pet snake, Nagini, the second was regrettably still inside Harry, and the last was as of yet unknown, although Albus did suspect it probably was something in connection with Rowena Ravenclaw, since that was the only founder whose object they were yet to find.

"Albus…" He spun around at the concern in Minerva's voice, finding the woman bent over, her fingers closing around a thin wooden object lying on the stone ground. His eyes widened to match Minerva's, as right there in her palm sat Hermione Granger's wand, the wood appearing a bit burned in places but otherwise in one piece. That really wasn't a good sign.

"Do you think…" Minerva began in a shaky voice, looking down at the carnage around herself.

"No. I know they made it out." Albus reassured her, certain that was the case, but aware that with no usable wand, the two were surely in big trouble. Minerva seemed ready to say something back when a splash in the water brought their attention back to the lake surrounding them.

"Oh boy. How many did he have in here?" Minerva stated worriedly, several Inferi pulling themselves out of the water around them, some appearing with half of their limbs burned away. Albus didn't comment, widening his stance and pointing his wand at the first of the inrushing Inferi.

With a silent prompt, fire erupted from his wand, hitting the lead Inferi and reducing him to dust. Minerva also jumped into action beside him, and soon the two were embroiled in a desperate defence against a rapidly increasing number of Inferi, the undead abominations streaming from the water in ever-increasing numbers.

But Albus wasn't overly concerned. He had once defeated Gellert Grindelwald and had stood and duelled with Lord Voldemort, he was not going to be defeated by a bunch of dead bodies. With that thought in mind, he brought his wand down in a wide circle, casting the Firestorm charm, which was almost as effective as casting Fiendfyre, minus the risks.

The lasso-like ring of fire instantly surrounded him and Minerva, burning through any Inferi foolish enough to try and get through the fire barrier. The immediate danger averted, Albus swiped some ash from his shoulders, before looking back at Minerva, her wand still held high and ready.

"What do you say we get out of here?"

"With pleasure."